DICKSON vs. KINSMAN.--INTERFERENCE.--TELEPHONE.
The subject matter of the interference is defined in the preliminary
declaration thereof as follows:
The combination in one instrument of a transmitting telephone and a
receiving telephone, so arranged that when the mouthpiece of the
speaking or transmitting telephone is applied to the mouth of a person,
the orifice of the receiving telephone will be applied to his ear.
1. While it is true that the unsupported allegations of an inventor,
that he conceived an invention at a certain date, are not sufficient to
establish such fact, the testimony of a party that he constructed and
used a device at a certain time is admissible.
2. Abandonment is an ill-favored finding, which cannot be presumed, but
must be conclusively proven.
The decision of the Board of Examiners-in-Chief is reversed, and
priority awarded to Dickson.
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